Sae practiced her breathing exercises as she slowly walked beside the wall of the cabin.
She hadn't done them in some time. The 1-2-3-4-5-6-7 breath-in, breath-out cycle was unfamiliar. She hadn't forgotten when and how they were drilled into her, though, which made all the difference.
Her legs had stopped moving. Damn. She took the moment of pause to look out over the ocean. Her eyes slipped past the city and held steady on the expanse of the ocean below a multi-colored sky. The pulses in the clouds were something to focus on while she breathed. Sae forced herself to name what each disturbance in the clouds was caused by.
Breathe in.
Hold the breath. The seconds ticked up in her mind as a bright flash of light pierced the clouds, forming a jagged stalagmite of multi-colored light as it pierced the ocean surface.
Some distant part of her was amazed as she exhaled. It was rare for her to see anything like that this close to shore. Some of the tales the Captain told... it was incredible they could travel over the sea at all.
It was obviously a luminous discharge. Nothing else she knew of could produce an effect like that. Breathe in.
She waited for another pulse in the sky to give her something else to focus on. Hold the breath.
Seconds passed, and she exhaled without another discharge showing itself. Darn. It had been a good idea, at least. Her breathing had steadied, her pulse lowered. She was, by all definitions, calm.
At least there's that. The other esser had been waiting for her, hadn't she? Got to get a move on, Sae.
She reluctantly tore her gaze from the view, walking around the rest of the cabin. As she stepped onto the deck, she took in the new girl first. Her mind stuttered.
Her back was to Sae, crouched over to examine the aft of the Shanty. Even crouched over, the new girl was taller, dressed in a loose-fitting white shirt with puffed sleeves. Her pants were nothing fancy, just the Sankhurst stock that Sae wore. "Hey. Familiarizing yourself with the working area?" She took another step forward.
The new girl turned around, and Sae's mind stuttered, stuttered, and then stopped. Grey eyes. Close-cropped blonde hair to the neck. She blinked. She heard words somewhere, passing in and leaving without being processed.
She blinked, and the world came back into focus. The dockloader girl was here. Hired onto the ship as an essence worker. "Sorry, I lost my thoughts." She did not stutter. "Can you repeat what you said?"
The... not dockloader girl, she'd have to get her name, now only nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I said 'Oh, boat girl!'" Her mouth made a slanted smile. "I guess I shouldn't call you that, 'cause I'm a boat girl too now!"
Sae was boat girl? "My name's Sae. Yours?" She would not stand for people thinking of her as boat girl. Maybe she should tear paper out of her notebook, write her name on it, and wear it.
"Geneviah! But you can call me boat girl junior." She winked. "Good to meet you, Sae."
Geneviah - a name to put to those eyes, finally - stood against the raised edge of the boat's aft, arms hanging limply by her sides. "So... essence work, huh?" Her expression twisted as she said 'essence work'.
Sae laughed a little. "I don't know why you said that so disparagingly. It takes a lot of effort to be an esser, right? Hard to stay in a job you don't like." She tried not to let her little sadistic glee show on her face.
She wasn't teasing. It's just... Geneviah was not a good essence worker, based on what the Captain said. He wouldn't lie to Sae. You were only terrible at your job if you didn't like the field or if you were unskilled.
If Geneviah was the former, the trip might as well be cancelled and Geneviah let go. Sae would blow a hole in the Shanty herself before she let it leave dock with an esser that didn't care to do a good job. If she were the latter... Sae could bother teaching her something. She just had to figure out which Geneviah was.
If she had a little fun not-teasing Geneviah while figuring out, what was the harm?
Ah. She had been in her mind a little too long. Geneviah had said something and she had missed it again. "Sae?" Her expression was worried.
"Sorry again." She tried her best at an apologetic smile. "I get in my head a lot. You'll have to deal with that. What did you say?"
Geneviah's eyebrows knit. "Are you alright?"
"Oh. I didn't mean to make you think something was wrong." She scratched at her right elbow, the action comforting. "I meditate a lot. The more I do it, the more I lose track of time in everyday conversations. It'll get easier with time." Especially since the Captain is forcing me off them for the next week or so with Geneviah here...
Geneviah looked relieved. "Oh, good! I'll make sure to keep you grounded." A pause. "I was just... yeah, essence work. I was just curious what you do on the boat. My work experience is more limited to the land." She gave a laugh that spread warmth up her neck.
The emotions envisioned as a flood threatening to escape a sewer grate, she tamped it down. Composure settled over her like a tight jacket, a temporary reprieve. She couldn't let that distract her. Not yet.
"Well, I'll tell you." She kept her voice from wavering. "Before that, though, I wanted to conduct a kind of interview." She stepped closer to Geneviah. "Care to take a seat on the deck? It's easier sitting."
Geneviah sat as Sae got herself settled, the two opposing each other. Geneviah sat with her legs in a sprawl, while Sae sat cross-legged in her meditation stance. She hadn't realized that wasn't the right way to sit, but it was too late to correct now. "So, the Captain told me you had some experience -" lying, Sae. A tsk in her mind. "- and you've told me it's land-locked. What kind of experience do you have, exactly?"
Geneviah opened her mouth, then closed it again, thinking for a moment. The evening air had a cool tinge to it, brushing under the nape of her neck and through her shirt. She sent gratefulness to it. The wind didn't respond. It was wind.
Eventually, Geneviah stopped thinking and straightened up. "So, I worked with a client on an art piece he was making for the Museum of Essence Work." Sae raised a hand, and she stopped.
"I didn't know that museum was finished with the repairs after one of the glyphs in use there exploded." On 'exploded', Geneviah's eyebrows flew into her forehead. Interesting.
"Hah... yeah, they finished with it." She seemed a little more stressed than she did a moment ago, throwing a small glance to the aft. "You weren't aware? It's been done for over a year."
"No, I haven't been off the boat." She drummed her fingers against her knee, scratching an itch in her mind. "You were saying about the sculpture?"
-
Over the next few minutes, Sae had itemized a few facts about Geneviah's experience as an essence worker.
- She was lying about this supposed essence-based statue.
- She had no idea how to work with luminous essence.
- She called the frequencies of luminous essence colors.
She had a second, less helpful list of all of the ways Geneviah was charming, but she ignored that one.
Sae had come to the very firm conclusion that Geneviah was lying about the statue and everything surrounding it. She moved the conversation towards another piece of Geneviah's work in the hopes of getting some actual experience.
Geneviah told her about being hired to work on one of the trolleys that directed traffic through Sankhurst.
As she put it:
-
"So, I'm on my way to the Municipal building" she snorts, the sound searing itself into Sae's mind. "We find this out later, but some kid throws a piece of the cobblestones at the trolley!"
Sae feels warm, the cool air having left her reality an undetermined time ago. "I've no experience, but that does not sound like a recipe for glyph stability."
Geneviah gestures at Sae. "You're right on it. The stone cracked the glyph, the glyph broke, and the trolley came to a sudden halt. Scared me and the other passengers half to death."
"So, everyone's panicking, confused, when an Enforcer ducks their head into the cabin. My heart just about jumped into my throat, but all they want is someone to help make a replacement glyph before the next trolley crashes into this one and causes some issues." She shakes her hands to accentuate the last word, the charm sinking its hooks into Sae. As if I weren't already enthralled. "I ask him oh, hey, what kind of glyph do you need?"
Sae leans forward. She knew what kind of glyph the trolleys needed, but Geneviah's presentation has made Sae care about the answer. "What glyph?" hed, clearing her throat.
Geneviah scrunched her face up, trying to remember. It was a face Sae has become familiar with when she repeatedly probed Geneviah for technical details. Her mouth downturned, and her eyes squinted, looking off in a direction adjacent to Sae while she searched her memory. Her body tensed up, hands balled up as she thought.
As it has every time, her body loses its tension, face loses its focus as she comes back to the conversation. Her grey eyes fix on Sae. "It was a force glyph, though I don't remember the specifics. When an Enforcer says jump, you jump." She shrugged. "I had a half-finished one in my bag, so I just -" she mimes etching, poorly. "- finished it up and handed it off! We got moving again pretty quick after that."
-
More was added to the list.
- She calls kinetic glyphs force glyphs?
- Does she know what emission runes are?
-
"So..." Sae drummed her fingers against her knee. The itch was scratched. "I have to ask: I haven't heard you talk about emission runes very much."
Geneviah froze mid-stretch when Sae finished speaking. She coughed, and turned her attention back to Sae. "Uh, yeah. I've only really done one of them."
Sae nodded. "Which one was that? We use a specific one for the runes here." Her charm was showing cracks.
"Ah..." Geneviah shifted, her hands clenching. She wasn't getting out of this, Sae needed to know if she could name any emission rune.
Silence grew awkward between them. Sae drummed her fingers against her knee again, but the itch wasn't sated. She drummed them faster.
"I don't remember the name of it..." Geneviah muttered. "I'm blanking on it, but it's the one that makes glyphs shoot the essence straight forward."
Hide the satisfaction, measured tone... "Are you talking about the directed emission rune?" She drums her fingers against her knee, each one a strike against her mind that wasn't hitting the itch.
Geneviah snapped her head up, meeting Sae's eyes. "Yes! That was it." A flush crept up her neck as she scratched the back of her head. "Sorry... was doing so well until now!"
The itch was satisfied.
-
- Doesn't know what the emission rune she's worked with is called?
- Thought she was doing well: doesn't know enough to know how poorly she's doing?
The list had accumulated enough evidence to point towards a single, definitive conclusion.
Geneviah could not be an essence worker. She doesn't know the basics, she doesn't have the skills. Had she been dozing off during her school years?
Had the Captain been fooled? He didn't know as much as Sae did, it's not his area of expertise. But he had talked with her enough to be familiar with the six alignments! He would've recognized her for the fraud she was.
He had let her on despite that. She put her trust in him.
Sae opened her eyes and saw Geneviah staring expectantly. She had been asked something, hadn't she?
"Sorry, Geneviah. The question?"
She shook her head. "No worries. I was just asking what captured your attention."
Ah. Time to make something up. She can do that. "I was just thinking about how I have a particular way of doing things. I've been here for a few years, and every other essence worker who has joined has followed my lead." lie. She moved on from the thought. "You seem very... boisterous. I think training you for how I do things around here might take a while."
Geneviah blushed. "I don't know if you'll have to train me. Just tell me how we do things here and I'll do it." She flashed a toothy smile. "You can trust me. I'll work twice as hard as anyone you've ever worked with."
Surprisingly, despite all the lies she's told, Sae did trust her on that count. Maybe it'll be okay.
"Okay, Geneviah. I trust you." She started to stand up. "I'll activate the glyphs tonight and get us unmoored from Sankhurst, and wake you up for your shift tomorrow morning."
Geneviah rushed to stand up to match Sae. They both stood there, looking at each other like fools. "Gotcha, Sae." Geneviah tilted her head. "So... where do we sleep?"
Embarrassment heated her cheeks. "Oh. There's a tent... kind of, it's a sleeping area on the bow. Just go past the cabin and enter the sleeping pit. The Captain put your sleeping mat and pillow in there." She waved, trying to shoo Geneviah. "Go off, get some rest."
"Yes, ma'am." Geneviah loosely saluted, mirth coloring her features. "A tent's luxury on the sea, Sae! Could be sleeping on the deck instead." She turned around and walked away towards the bow, her voice growing quieter as she left.
A moment passed, Sae collecting herself in the aftermath of the new girl's devastating effect on her composure. No breathing exercises, not yet.
A few more passed before she judged herself ready. She walked towards the cabin, and opened the door to find the Captain in a similar meditative pose to her own.
She coughed, and he shook his head. "Sae? Is it time?" The Captain looked towards her, and she nodded. "Good. Sea's calm, so we should be fine for you laying down for a rest after you get us going."
"Alright. Best of luck, Captain." She nodded her head, and went to close the door.
His concerned voice made her pause. "You as well, Sae. Rest yourself, too. Not just your body."
She shut the door.
-
Later, after untying the ship and etching the intake runes on each of the glyphs used to propel the ship, she found herself sitting cross-legged on the aft, watching the outline of the city shrink into the horizon.
It had truly turned into night now. Sae would need to sleep soon or she'd risk oversleeping and waking up after Geneviah.
The thought of Geneviah filled her with warm emotions she had yet to identify. She sat on the deck with the moon and its clouds suffusing the night sky above her. She had to find a way to handle the emotions. She had to live, work, and sleep next to the girl causing them.